Alchiral

[GuardianTempest]

GuardianTempest, what do you mean when you specify "Primary Skill/Characteristic?"

You know how in Character Creation you specify which set of skills and characteristics are Primary, Secondary and Tertiary? A Primary Skill is a skill from the category designated as Primary. So if you choose Physical skills to be your Primary, it includes Athletics and Pilot but not Animal Ken. Same goes for Characteristics, if you chose Mental to be your Primary selection, then the Primary characteristics are Intelligence, Wisdom and Willpower.

Yeah, looking at it you can have Social characteristics and Mental skills be your primary, at least to promote build diversity. I don't think I have the authority to force people to have their primary skill and characteristics be the same category.

Humanity has many creeds, one of which is "Me too!" Anything the other races have accomplished, humans will stop at nothing to avoid being left out. Whether it's in the field of war, peace, science, art, sports, or even entertainment; there will be at least one human who tried to contribute. Naturally, when the story about the Reticulans and the Warforged reached them, they decided they want in on that trend. One enterprising manufacturer of organic bodies already has what it takes. After a few years of haphazard experimentation and cost-cutting malpractice, humanity joined the "I have made a sapient race" club.

Alchirals (often called "stick figures" or "stickmen") are one of the newest races to debut in the Great Wheel. Although currently in the slow process of spreading towards alien civilizations, they widely inhabit human societies. Alchirals live alongside humans as friendly playmates, and at times as cooperative workmates. Sometimes the two races even band together and do battle. Besides their closeness with humanity, the other races doesn't seem to know everything about Alchirals due to being unfamiliar with them. In fact, there are those who believe there are many secrets surrounding them, with some even undertaking research to unravel Alchiran mysteries.

Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 1.5-2.5m
Average Weight: 30-60 kg
Languages: Trade, Human
Common Personality Traits: Forthright, participative, allocentric, dutiful, personable
Common Physical Traits: Round heads, narrow bodies, smooth skin, distinct colors, maybe naked
Example Names: Cueball, Derpina, Ikarhan, Nikusa, Xiao-Xiao

Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to a Primary characteristic
Skill Bonus: +1 to any two Primary skills
Power — Purpose-Born: Alchirals are created with a single function in mind. Choose one of the Skills that are gaining an additional dot from this race. That skill gains a free specialty and can always be raised as if it appears in your current class. At level 5, that skill gains one more dot and can be raised to six.
Size: 4

Racial Feats

Hyper Competence (Paragon Asset)
All the potential of a Paragon poured into a single focus. When using a skill selected for Purpose-Born, you may spend an Action Point to add +Xk0 to the roll, where X is your Excellence. If you have the Broader Niche racial feat, change this asset's effect to "Each Action Point spent adding rolled die to a Primary skill also adds a static bonus equal to the amount of Action Points spent."

Broader Niche
An Alchiral can fulfill multiple related roles but wouldn't be as effective as specializing in one. Replace the bonus provided by Purpose-Born with a +3 static bonus to all Primary skill tests.

Anatomical Focus
Some Alchirals specialize in their role by modifying their bodies. Gain one of the benefits below, depending on which kind of skill is selected for Purpose-Born.

• (Combat) R.H.G. Program: Gain the Hardy feat and additional Hit Points equal to your level.
• (Physical) Workhorse Enrichment: Add your level to your Speed and the amount of Fatigue you can take before passing out.
• (Mental) Amplified Neurons: Gain the Foresight feat and Advanced mental skills are treated as Basic.
• (Social) Living Mascot: Gain +2k0 to Charm, Command, Performer and Persuasion tests towards an audience.

Featureless
You have no style, you have no grace, there isn't anything on your face. You are immune to penalties involving the loss of eyeballs, mainly because you never had any. You can also breathe, hear and eat normally without any visible orifices. Despite this, your still require air to function and your senses can be hindered by other means (like deafening noises and thick smoke).

Ultra-Thin
Your body emphasizes the "stick" in "stick figure". Reduce your Size by 2 (to a minimum of 1), gain +1k1 to Dodge tests and add +4 to your Static Defense. However, a compressed physiology means more vulnerable weak points. You lose twice as much Hit Points from damage that would hit your Head or Gizzards.

Natural Birth
You were the product of a uterine assembly chamber powered by procreation. However, genetic differences between your parents resulted in a slight deviance to your capabilities. Up to 2 skill dots can be transferred into a category (that isn't Primary) taken from the other two. Skill dots cannot be taken from a skill selected for Purpose-Born, and cannot raise a skill above 3 dots this way. You can only buy this racial feat during Character Creation.

Physical Qualities

As a parallel to humanity, who display their diversity in other ways like cultures, Alchirals have a standardized core body with a wild variety of aesthetics. Their looks can range from featureless, black humanoids that are commonly sent in droves as cannon fodder and cheap labor; to endearing and colorful facsimiles of human bodies which serve well as artificial celebrities. Think of them like cars with the largest variety of cosmetic parts on the aftermarket.

Alchirals are essentially simplified humans, having only the necessary components to function as individual organisms with everything else expanding from that base. From a physiological standpoint, Alchirals are blank slates whose biology is very receptive to external change. The basic organ systems and malleable flesh better facilitate bionic implants, magical enhancements, and cosmetic surgery; even their genes are neatly formatted for straightforward editing.

Alchirals begin life as adults because having complete organisms ready for work is convenient and efficient. However, some Alchirals are born from natural reproduction, maturing normally like many other races. This method is useful for bolstering the population of distant communities. Just try not to think too hard about Alchiran breeding, their pregnancies are weird and genitalia is probably optional anyway.

Playing an Alchiral

Alchirals are named after the company that pioneered their creation. As an expression of humanity's versatility, these nondescript humanoids are essentially living templates. Unlike the other servant races, some of which lean towards certain roles, Alchirals can be trained and customized for virtually any purpose. However, they are not adaptable like Humans and specializations cannot be changed once set in stone. An Alchiral who was created to be a pop star can be trained to hold a rifle, but she will not perform as well on the battlefield as she would on stage.

Alchirals have a wide gulf between mortals and the Exalted, it's even possible to visually identify some of them. Whenever an Alchiral makes the headlines, most of the time it's one of the "special" ones—like the one with the cool sword, magical powers, or gaudy fashion sense. Mortal ones are shackled to their roles, only dealing with situations where they can be relevant in. Exalts on the other hand have the power to use their capabilities as tools to carve new destinies. For example, if the objective is to take over a kingdom, a warrior can fight his way to the throne, a pop star can achieve cultural domination, and a chef can win everyone's hearts and minds through the deliciousness of his cooking.

Alchiral Heroes

Before donning the golden armor, Gildedguy was a painting worker who yearned to do battle. He painted houses, fences, and other menial jobs to fund his humble lifestyle. Until one day, he came across a powerful, slushy "Orichalcum paint" that allowed him to forge his armor and sword (imbued with unexpected, special properties). Gildedguy now roams not too far from his house to find what the best use of this paint is, why he has it, and how it can help pay the bills.

Yupia was a religious civilian who was caring towards her community. She was kidnapped and put through grueling experiments by a rich, higher-class family of biological scientists. Her memory was erased and her body received many technological enhancements to create a super soldier. She became blind but her other senses drastically compensated. However, Yupia still remembers that she used to be someone else, and that awareness feeds a burgeoning enmity.

The notorious Henry Stickmin started out as a failed bank robber who swiftly rose to confusing infamy after breaking out of prison. This freelance thief/bounty hunter/investigator/whatever is mostly known for his myriad of gadgets and incredible luck. A canny observer would notice his inconsistent behavior in handling situations. It seems like he's acting on knowledge he would only have if he lived a different timeline, like an organization's secrets without being a member.

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Footnotes

SPOILER: Click to show

Purpose-Born Skill Assessment:
If your Larceny and Stealth is 3 dots and your other Physical skills only have two or less, you can only select Larceny or Stealth. If your Perception skill has 2 dots, and all your other Mental skills have one, Perception is the only legal selection you can take. In case you're wondering, this selection is made between Step 2 and Step 3 of Character Creation.

Examples for Natural Birth rerrangements:
1 Primary ▶ 1 Tertiary = OK
1 Primary and 1 Tertiary ▶ 2 Secondary = OK
2 Secondary ▶ 2 Tertiary = OK
2 Tertiary ▶ 2 Primary = Not OK

[GuardianTempest]

Aaaaand here we go, the stick figure race I've been wanting. I've spend three days typing up the fluff so please appreciate it. The name is derived from a company/organization in Cortex Command, who manufactures the artificial bodies controlled by the player's disembodied brain unit (that aren't faction-aligned like the Dummies or Coalition). I also took inspiration from clone-based races like Star Control's Androsynths. Truth be told, I just wanted to adapt stick figure characters without having to look for humanized fanart of them.

Mechanically they're similar to Humans in that they have some leeway in their characteristics and skills, but they're more specialized in what they do. However they can't use their bonuses to shore up their weak points (without Veteran o' the Wheel, the Paragon exaltation or Natural Birth). They're innately good at whatever they are manufactured/born for. I don't know if Anatomical Focus is balanced enough, admittedly in the initial drafts the benefits are MUCH stronger.

Dang it, the opening image would've been fanart of UnknownSpy's Media Controls but the image was deleted and I can't find any suitable replacements. It would've been super-neat to show how...varying an Alchiral's aesthetics can be. Then again, one of the characters (Stop) has a square head and three eyes. So I might as well make them physically uniform due to standardized cloning, right?

Additional sample heroes because I might've written too much:
Be on the lookout for a cunning stickman with a black boater hat. He is unpredictable, diabolical and has no clear sense of right and wrong. Many incidents of ridiculous variety have been linked to him, some were masterminded from behind the scenes and others were sparked personally. Aside from his distinctive headgear, there's only one confirmed fact about his life: He has a girlfriend just as devious as him, and her name is maybe "Danish".

An Alchiral was once created by the power of the arts instead of science. The creation quickly lashed out but was subdued after an epic battle, sealed into the deepest parts of the Umbra. The event faded into history, but to this day the creation stirs. The day of reckoning will arrive and the animation will return to the Great Wheel. However, there is much speculation about The Chosen One, mainly if the passing millennia changed the wayward soul for the better or worse.

With an eluded name and a mysterious purpose, "FLLFFL", or "Alfa" seen through illusion, is arcane. He does, however, have a foundation of never actually killing his adversaries. With this foundation his adaptation over controlling his emotions is superb. It's rare for "Alfa" to truly express during combat. Appearing to be in his late-middle ages, "Alfa" has always been known to be very dependent on his specialized sword. Although no one knows what it's exactly made of, his sword has always protected himself and destroyed others. His exact motivations are an enigma. Many believe he is irritated with the destructive capabilities of his sword and regrets ever making the legendary ordnance. Some say he's been searching for those strong enough to break the blade and end his own reign of destruction, while others claim he'd been searching for the hammer that formed the ordnance itself. Others rumor that his quest is to create another weapon of destruction. No one really knows, in fact.

Additional Alchiral images due to immense cosmetic diversity

SPOILER: Click to show

A pending change I'm considering is having the initial +1k0 from Purpose-Born apply to all Primary skills, but I worry it might be too good. I'm satisfied with what's available.

[GuardianTempest]

Racial power buffed to +2k0 for main skill, while other primary skills gain a +1k0 bonus, if it's too powerful I'll nerf it down to a free raise. It's mostly to address concerns about it being too narrow in application (which was intended, dang it). Secondary Niche also buffed to provide a similar bonus (almost copying your racial bonus without the +0k1 provided by the skill). XKCD reference (Black Hat Guy) moved to make room for Henry Stickmin.

People didn't notice they also gain a +0k1 when their racial specialty applies to their chosen skill.

For the record I only made that change due to feedback from the other homebrewers. Number inflation was not intended and I worry that it makes this race more appealing than playing a Human. This is the original version of the racial power:

Power — Purpose-Born: Alchirals are created with a single function in mind. Choose a Primary skill with the highest amount of dots compared to the others. You gain +1k0 to tests using it, a free specialty to that skill, and an additional +0k1 when that specialty applies. You can raise the selected skill as if you were in Free Study.

[GuardianTempest]

Bah, I can't take it anymore! I've removed the "free raise to other skills" and placed them in a new racial feat (which replaces Secondary Niche). The racial power is getting a little too loaded for my tastes.

[Amanojyaku]

...you were in that game same as I was, GT, how could you forget that a raise is much more potent than +1k0.

[GuardianTempest]

I see. I have addressed that. Sure the effect is small but it's more applicable than the Human racial feat.

10/17 EDIT: Racial power overhauled again to be even simpler. Yes, it's "lame" but so is the Aasimar's. Old version is here for comparison.

Power — Purpose-Born: Alchirals are created with a single function in mind. Choose a Primary skill with the highest amount of dots compared to the others (if multiple skills are tied, pick one). You gain +2k0 to tests using it, a free specialty to that skill, and an additional +0k1 when that specialty applies. You can raise the selected skill as if you were in Free Study.

[GuardianTempest]

Tentative nerf to racial power: The capbreaker and free dot comes at Level 5. To compensate you get a free application of Skill Focus. It's appropriate as stick figures are either nameless cannon fodder that die in droves (Level 1) or become an established badass that kills said cannon fodder in droves (Level 5). Also, this makes Alchirals super good only at the lategame.

Given that many Level 5 classes need 5 dots in a skill to enter, it's possible that the free dot could be used to raise the Purpose-Born skill to 6 without needing to spend XP. That can happen.